TOWARDS ZEROWASTE THENMALA

an approach paper

Thanal H-3, Jawaharnagar, Kawdiar P.O., 695 003 Tel: 0471-2727150. E-mail: [email protected]. www.thanal.org June 2007 Towards Zero Waste Thenmala

3. Thenmala and Tourism Thenmala is the ’s first planned ecotourism destination. The major tourist activities are divided into two; Eco-friendly general tourism and Ecotourism. Eco- friendly general tourism have five zones; namely, The culture zone, The leisure 1. Introduction zone,The adventure zone,The deer rehabilitation centre and Boating in wildlife As requested by Directorate of Eco Tourism, sanctuary. Ecotourism consist of Soft a team from Thanal visited Thenmala trekking and one day ecotourism at rd Grama Panchayath on 23 June 2007 to . The total area is 40 acres. During carry out a preliminary survey on present peak season(May & December) the visitors waste management system. are nearly 1500 whereas during lean season (June& July) the number comes down to The team was not provided with the basic 50. Maximum visitors are in Eco-friendly and vital information regarding general area. About 10-15 people per demographic features, back ground month come for soft trekking. Visit to dam information, location map and copy of is controlled by Irrigation department. approach paper on waste management of Large number of school children come for the Panchayath. Based on the information picnic in dam area. On the periphery of gathered with the help of Mr. Santhosh Forest area also picnics are held. Most of Kumar C. (Guest Relations Officer) of the picnic groups bring their own food. Thenmala Eco Tourism Promotion Society, the team has prepared this report.

2. Thenmala

Thenmala Panchayath lies on the western slope of Western Ghats in district. This special grade Grama Panchayath comes under block Panchayath. Thenmala is spread over 162 square kilometres with a population of nearly 24,000. People are mainly engaged in agriculture. The Irrigation Project is situated in this Panchayath which is an Office of Thenmala Eco Tourism Promotion Society attraction to many tourists.

Thenmala borders the Shenduruney Wildlife 4. Waste Issues Sanctury and majority of the Panchayath is Thenmala Panchayath is sandwiched under forest cover. This is an ecologically between and towns fragile area where the first Ecotourism and it falls on the trade route to project was implemented by the Govt. of Shengottai. The highway through Thenmala Kerala. passes through forest, with hardly any Towards Zero Waste Thenmala - A Draft Approach Paper human settlement. This patch of forest along the high way is used by people from outside Thenmala Panchayath for dumping their waste especially meat and poultry waste. The trucks passing through this road also empties garbage in this region. Some of the road side dumps contained Disposable glass filled with rain water in a waste dump even waste from hospitals including sharps. These dumps are also in the watershed plastic bottles, cups, plates, carry bags etc. areas of streams in the valley. Being in a apart from chocolate wrappers/tetra packs. wildlife area these The eateries and dumps are scavenged restaurants functioning by animals like in the eco tourism zone monkeys, wild boars, also generates waste rats and birds. and some of them attempted to handle it Damsite is a major at source. Most of the tourist attraction where restaurants are large number of situated on the river visitors come for picnic. banks. It is observed Most of them bring that KTDC restaurant in food and snacks which the zone is dumping leave the place littered Waste dumped by KTDC restaurant in the backyard their food waste mixed with tetra packs, plastic cups, plastic wrappers and covers in a whole in their back yard bordering the forest. It was also observed that the vermi compost facility created in the backyard remained unutilized. It is seen that the dump was scavenged by wild animals and birds. Mosquito breeding near the waste dump was found.

Labours who came from outside the State for Kallada Irrigation Project have settled near the dam in three colonies. Each of these colonies are now grown with more Waste dump in the forest along the road than 200 families. Due to space constraints with packaging materials mainly plastic the dwellers of colony dumps their waste covers, cups and plates. on the road side.

Thenmala Eco Tourism zone have put The commercial establishments in restrictions on usage of plastics and Thenmala Junction and weekly vegetable littering. However it is observed that and meat market are generating waste, littering is happening, which is generally Thanal June 2007 6. Future plans of the Panchayath The discussion with the President of the Panchayath gave a draft outline of the proposed waste management system under consideration. The idea is to engage members of Kudumbasree groups to collect waste and transport it to a centralised location 17 km away from the town where the Panchayath owns 2 acres of land. The Dumping waste on the roadside plan is to set up composting unit. It was estimated that nearly one tonne of waste is which seemed to be dumped in and being generated in Thenmala every day. around of the town area. 7. Recommendations: 5. Current Waste Management Practices Policy: Being a growing eco tourism destination it There is a system of waste collection and is advised to go for Zero Waste policy which disposal for the Eco Tourism Zone which is considered to be a progressive approach operates with three contracted local on waste management. women. Waste baskets made from bamboo strips which have no covers are Strategy: placed in the zone. The workers Based on the observations of the ground segregate the waste and bury the realities, it is advised to go for biodegradable discards and some times v House hold level composting / vermi burns the non biodegradable discards composting / biogas to handle including plastics. Some time they biodegradable discards.. transfer it to the Panchayath collection v Institutional level (Hotels, system, which in turn get dumped Restaurants, Schools, Offices, etc.,) somewhere in the forest. systems for source segregation of

Thenmala Panchayath have own sweepers who are responsible for cleaning and removal of garbage in Dam Junction and Thenmala junction. According to the President, it is common practice for the sweepers to outsource their jobs to workers on whom the Panchayath have no control. The Panchayath have a tractor and trailor for removal of garbage generated in the Panchayath. The Panchayath does periodical clean up operations and bury the waste. Concrete waste collection bin on the road side

Towards Zero Waste Thenmala - A Draft Approach Paper discards and disposal of bio degradable at source should be promoted. Recycling and reuse of non biodegradable discards should be encouraged. v Decentralised Resource Recovery Facilities should be established at Thenmala town appropriate locations preferably near Eco Tourism Zone and Thenmala 8. Road map for attaining Zero Market. Waste v Door to door collection of segregated a. Detailed survey (material flow and discards facility should be provided opportunities) for colonies and commercial b. Developing Resource Team establishments and they should be c. Campaign and Education sent to the Resource Recovery d. Capacity Building Programme Facility e. Establishing discard handling v Programmes have to be launched to systems and Resource Recovery build capacity in the community to Facilities provide alternate solutions (both f. Developing management and products and services) for plastics monitoring system. and other non viable materials. v Programmes have to be devised to 9. Conclusion ensure Extended producer In order to design a Zero Waste Plan for responsibility, participation and Thenmala Grama Panchayath, the following ownership from the part of business information is needed. community. v Location Map v Rules have to be enforced to restrict v Basic Statistics of the the use of plastic products in the Panchayath as per 2001 region. census v ‘Vikasana Rekha’ of Thenmala Panchayath v ‘Naya Sameepana Rekha’ on waste management v ‘Plan out lay for the financial year 2006-07 and 2007-08. v Current waste management plan and financial outlay v Basic Statistics of Tourism inflow, income and expenditure v Future expansion plan (if any) of Eco Tourism in the Zone.

Waste collection basket in the eco tourism zone

Thanal June 2007